Haut Brion - Pessac-Léognan 2015

Vinous

96

byNeal Martinthe7/16/2025

The 2015 Haut-Brion has a sophisticated bouquet with blackberry, raspberry, tobacco and smoke aromas unfurling gradually in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied, harmonious and poised, with pliant tannins. This is very pure toward the finish that feels caressing and deftly disguises the structure beneath. It is excellent. Tasted blind at the 2015 Bordeaux Ten-Year-On tasting at Farr Vintners.

Vinous

97

byNeal Martinthe7/10/2019

The 2015 Haut-Brion has a gorgeous bouquet of great amplitude, featuring lush but controlled red berry fruit laced with chestnut and hints of game, all generous and intoxicating yet not overblown. The palate is medium-bodied with quite an oaky, coconut-tinged entry. Surprisingly savory, almost animally in style, it feels warm and fleshy and also a few years more mature than I would have anticipated. Thoroughly enjoyable, but a strange showing compared to previous encounters that were sheer perfection. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.

Wine Advocate

100

byNeal Martinthe3/2/2018

 The 2015 Haut-Brion is a blend of 50% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Cabernet Franc picked between 8 September and 5 October. Of course, it showed majestically out of barrel, so pressure was on in bottle. Deep in color, the bouquet is a real showstopper: blackberry, raspberry, sage, black olive and warm gravel...this is a profoundly complex bouquet that is nuanced and beautifully delineated. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin and ample freshness, but don’t be deceived because this is a very structured Haut-Brion built for the long-term. Remarkably the 14.9% alcohol is completely disguised. It feels incredibly long, and yet instead of fanning out, it shuts down the door on the finish. It is a behemoth of a wine, one that is up there with the legends of the past. Anticipated maturity: 2025 - 2070. 

Vinous

98

byAntonio Gallonithe2/27/2018

A huge, dramatic wine, the 2015 Haut-Brion is magnificent. Vertical in its construction and towering in its reach, the 2015 is going to need a good decade-plus to even start becoming approachable, as it needs to lose baby fat and develop the full range of its aromatics. Even at this early stage, though, it is wonderfully complete and positively stunning.

Wine Advocate

100

byLisa Perrotti-Brownthe2/22/2018

A blend of 50% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, the medium to deep garnet-purple colored 2015 Haut-Brion is reticent to begin, languidly revealing crushed black cherries, ripe black plums and wild blueberries with sparks of cinnamon stick, cloves, nutmeg, espresso, unsmoked cigars, tapenade, crushed rocks and lavender. The full-bodied palate possesses wonderfully complementary contrasts of bold black and blue fruit richness and delicately nuanced cherry fruit, baking spices and floral accents, strutting ripe, finely pixelated tannins and seamless acidity that is placed firmly in the background, finishing very long and with plenty of attitude. This impeccably poised, exquisitely perfumed 2015 Haut-Brion possesses the most alluring yet seemingly effortless beauty. While it bears only a passing resemblance in its opulent personality to the now legendary 1989, like that vintage the 2015 cannot fail to hedonically satiate and intellectually edify all lovers of great Bordeaux who drink it. What’s more, it also has the blue-blooded tenaciousness to remain this jaw-droppingly impressive, throughout its many guises over time, and for a very, very long time.

Wine Spectator

98

byJames Molesworththe2/15/2018

A brick house of a wine, loaded with roasted fig, warmed currant compote and plum reduction flavors that are as broad as they are deep, carried by warm tar, ganache and smoldering bay leaf and charcoal notes. A swath of tobacco through the finish pulls everything together and ties it up with a bow of roasted mesquite. The core shows lean, muscular strength in spades. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2025 through 2045. 11,250 cases made.  –JM

Jamessuckling.com

98

byJames Sucklingthe2/12/2018

This is all about seduction and beauty with tobacco, berries, tea and wet earth. Full-bodied, round and sexy. Love the polished and beautiful tannins. Racy and refined. Try in 2023.

Jeb DUNNUCK

100

byJeb Dunnuckthe11/30/2017

Wine Advocate

98-100

byNeal Martinthe5/29/2016

The 2015 Haut Brion, a blend of 50% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, was picked between 8 September and 5 October, and is matured in the same level of new oak (78%) and IPT (75) as the La Mission. It has a heavenly bouquet that like the La Mission bestows instant gratification - a veritable kaleidoscope of aromas so crystalline that you can pick them out one by one: dark plum, blackcurrant, Kalamata olive and graphite. It is tempting to just nose this all day. The palate has an indescribably stunning balance and like the La Mission, there is a paradoxical sense of intensity married to weightlessness. Everything here is so precise, so pure and yet as it crescendos towards the finish, it offers a profundity that is unmatched across Bordeaux in this vintage. Having had the pleasure of many great wines from this estate in the past - 1945, 1955, 1959, 1961 and 1989 - the 2015 belongs among that pantheon. Drink 2030-2075

Decanter.com

97

byJane Ansonthe5/2/2016

The Graves wine of the vintage (along with Haut-Bailly). Taking the highest proposition of first wine (55%) for several years and a good yield of 45hl/ha. The fruit and tannins reached full and perfect ripeness and the structure shows incredible cohesion, easily approaching the quality of the 2010 but with softer tannins. Beautifully complete with great integrity of coffee grounds and rich damson fruit. Opens up in the glass, the personality and complexity ripples through. A touch lower alcohol than La Mission at 14.9%abv and with 3.73pH for fresh balance. 58% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc and 78% new oak. May well be scored upwards when in bottle.2026-2045

Vinous

95-97

byAntonio Gallonithe4/27/2016

The 2015 Haut-Brion is shaping up to be one of the wines of the vintage. Thrust, power and pure intensity come through loud and clear in the crème de cassis, blackberry jam, smoke, licorice and graphite flavors. Soaring aromatics and layers of intense fruit, all supported by a beam of firm tannin make the 2015 a wonderfully complete wine that will drink well for many, many decades. The unctuous fruit and baby fat will need time to melt away, but there is little doubt this a magical wine with huge potential for the future. The purity of flavors and textures will take your breath away.

Jancis Robinson

18,5

byJancis Robinsonthe4/26/2016

50% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon. Picked 8 September to 5 October. Much more aromatic than La Mission. Lovely silky tannins but masses of them. Very strict and savoury. Really dense but manages to be expressive and convincing. A megalith. 14.9% Drink 2030-2055

The Wine Cellar Insider

99

byJeff Levethe4/23/2016

It is the sensuous texture that really makes this wine rock! The feel is pure silk and velvet and the impressive fragrance captivates with its floral, smoke, boysenberry, cassis and earthy aromatics. This wine has great color, real volume, depth of flavor and despite the fact that it is quite high in alcohol, there is no sense of heaviness or heat. It lacks the depth of the 2009 but it offers more elegance and silk on the palate. Made from a blend of 50% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Cabernet Franc, the wine reached 14.9% alcohol with a pH of 3.73 and represents 55% of the harvest. 98 - 100 Pts

timatkin.com

96

byTim Atkin MWthe4/20/2016

Jamessuckling.com

97-98

byJames Sucklingthe4/5/2016

A structured and powerful Haut-Brion with so much finesse and beauty. Complex and long. It’s full and ultra-refined. Super length and polish. A formed and sexy Haut Brion.